Sabres' goalie Miller: Flyers not so tough

The Flyers' faithful make it painfully obvious how they feel about Sabres' goalie Ryan Miller, had a shaky game allowing five goals after a masterful Game 1 outing in Philadelphia's 5-4 win Saturday. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

PHILADELPHIA -- There were two games, 10 goals, multiple fights, a Flyers win, a Sabres win and enough good hockey to have entertained all.

Now, though, there can be a real Stanley Cup playoff series.

Now, someone has opened his mouth.

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Not that Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller was actively inviting manufactured series relevance Saturday after a 5-4 loss to the Flyers, but his post-Game 2 comments were sturdy enough to carry the burden of interest for the rest of the series.

His essential point: The Flyers are not as tough as they pretend.

Game on.

"We've got a lot of physical players," said Ville Leino, reacting to Miller's verbal challenge, after his second-period power-play goal put the Flyers ahead to stay. "I don't think that's the case. When we do that and when we are skating, that's when we are at our best.

"So I don't know if you want to be saying that to us. It's going to encourage us."

The genesis of Miller's postgame frustration was the nature of Game 2, in which 34 penalties were called, 13 on the Sabres. The perception was that the Flyers had heightened the physical nature of the series.

But given hockey history, no matter how distant, a public questioning of the Flyers' toughness is certain to resonate about North America.

No Flyers playoff series ever seems complete without some.

"We compete hard," Miller said. "They want to win. We want to win. Everything is there. I wish we would recognize they are a team they are not as tough as they are putting out there. They want to play skill hockey. I am not trying to cause a controversy there. They want to play skill. They want to play with the puck. They are not going to try to run you all night.

"They are going to have their shifts. They want to skate. They want to create turnovers. They want to go on the power play. And that's the kind of team they are. And we spent too much time in the penalty box and it took away a little bit of our edge in the second period."

If he was not endeavoring to boil controversy, Miller did a good job Saturday --- a better job, perhaps, than he did in goal. Yet he had thrown a Game 1 shutout, helping to give the Sabres a Wells Fargo Center split, the standard compromise position for any visiting playoff team.

Miller, though, was not satisfied enough with that to leave it be. Rather, he actively questioned the Flyers' style.

"That is exactly what these guys want to do," he said. "They want to get you to a certain point, but they are not going to get involved in all the scrums. (Scott) Hartnell and Goose (Paul Gaustad) had a tilt, but that's about it. I mean that is all you are going to get out of a night. I don't think anyone wants to try Cody (McCormick) right now.

"They are all about putting it out there and getting a reaction. Unfortunately, we reacted. I wouldn't say it was in a bad way because I don't mind that we are into the game and a little bit ticked. But we took it a little too far with some of that. You have to ignore it. You can't retaliate, you have to instigate. I think that was the difference."

With that, Miller knew what would arrive next: The controversy he was claiming to want to avoid.

"I know how this is going to go," he said. "But they have been a skill team for how many years here? They use agitation and getting in your face and stuff when they need to. But they want the puck. They want power plays. And they want to play skill hockey. You can't let them have that many power plays even though they didn't cash in on as many as they would like.

"It still puts us in a tough spot. We've got guys who are (penalty) killing and working hard. It takes a lot of energy."

The Sabres showed energy, but Saturday, at least, the Flyers showed more. That included James Van Riemsdyk, who spent much of the day in front of Miller, hacking away.

A line crossed, perhaps?

"That's fine," Miller said with a shrug. "As long we get to do it too."